Picnic at Hanging Rock is a mysterious and ambiguous film that’s truly a bizarre masterpiece. The 1975 film was directed by Peter Weir, who you know from Dead Poet’s Society and The Truman Show, about a group of schoolgirls that disappear on Valentine’s Day of 1900. I mean, that set up alone should have you intrigued.

Last week saw the release of a tribute poster by the talented Kilian Eng, absolutely one of my favorite illustrators. He’s done an impressive job of capturing the intrigue of Hanging Rock, the purity and innocence of the girls, and the juxtaposition between the two. The piece is so stunning, and technically it’s a brilliant, being made from an 11 color screen print. I can’t even impinge what a pain in the ass those separations were!

You can snag a poster for yourself by clicking here.
Below is the trailer, just in case you haven’t seen the film.

Though I don’t do it as often as I’d like to, I love traveling. The pleasures of exploring the unknown, the excitement of having your first conversations in a foreign language, these are exhilarating feelings that can only be attained through traveling. I’m excited to say the I’ll be visiting Milan from April 1-6, thanks to a partnership with Lexus, for the Lexus Design Award and the Salone del Mobile, one of the most exciting design fairs in the world.

I’m hoping to get some recommendations from you readers on what to see, where to eat and drink, and especially any exciting events around the fair. I’d also love to meet up with any creatives in the area for a café or a cocktail. I know there’s go to be so much to see and do so any tips are greatly appreciated.

Easiest way to reach me is by email: thefoxisblack@gmail.com
You can also follow my Instagram to see the adventure in real time.

As I mentioned in my previous post, gradients are quite the thing these days. It was then funny to see this Kickstarter project pop into my inbox, which furthered confirmed my point. Anicorn, a Hong Kong based watchmaker, has a teamed up with Seoul based industrial designer Jiwoong Jung to create Hidden Time, a watch face that slowly reveals the hours of the day. The designer describes his concept as such:

“My research on how to naturally pass time began with how hiding occurs in nature, which led me to one of the best known examples––the chameleon’s protective color. Their defense mechanism is a kind of optical illusion, but a simple and effective way to have two things together naturally when superimposed.”

I like this watch for a few reasons. First, I think it’s smart that you can easily tell the hour because the white numerals really pop off of the dark gradient color. It’s really nice that it comes in three different finishes, that rose gold is precious, but honestly I’d still be a stereotypical designer and go all black. Finally, the price point is just right, coming in around $150.

Gemma Gené, an architect and visual artist from Barcelona, has created a stunning series of paintings and drawings with a simple conceit: objects wrapped in or made of metal. The effect is dazzling because of her next-level ability to render the highlights and shadows of the metal, as you can see from the incredible details in the pineapple above.

The two aspects of her work that I really enjoy are the wood panels she uses, which certainly bring a wonderful contrast to the overall composition, a balance of the natural and manufactured. I also appreciate the fact that she paints in the shadows and subtle reflections of the objects onto the wood panels, grounding the objects and giving them even more depth.

Gradients are quite “in” these days as they’re able to bring a feeling of movement and a depth of color that’s always attractive. How a gradient is applied is where things can get interesting, as is the case with the work of Zoe Gilbertson. Her medium is needlepoint which allows her to create abstract artwork that bridges the hand stitched with the digital.

Raphael Vangelis, a London based director, created this super inventive video titled Analogue Loaders which brings the digital concept of waiting into a fantastic physical world. His reason for creating it? He feels like it’s how he spends his life.

This short film is my animated autobiography. I spend most of my life swearing at the computer because it’s crashed or isn’t working. Here, well known digital symbols are turned into something analogue and playful. The result is an homage to all the lost time we collectively spend in digital limbo in the hopes of sudden development on our screen.

There’s also a behind-the-scenes look at how he and his team made the video, which was a much more arduous process than I would have imagined. A majority of the elements were 3D printed, assembled, captured via stop-motion and then all sorts of digital video apps to create that handmade vibe of the video. I’m so curious to know just how long this video took to make. I feel like it had to take months, right? I think it was worth the effort but I personally wouldn’t have the patience to make something like this.